The invention relates generally to blower apparatus for clearing various surfaces of debris. More specifically, the invention concerns lightweight, portable blowers utilizing axial fans and intended as replacements for conventional brooms or brushes.
Most conventional air blowers designed for use in clearing debris from a variety of work surfaces are either relatively heave devices powered by internal combustion engines or relatively inconvenient and expensive corded electrical appliances. The last decade has been the introduction of cordless, hand-held, lightweight household or vehicle power cleaning devices for supplementing the normal complement of corded, heavy-duty appliances, such as full-size vacuum cleaners, for a variety of lighter duty cleaning tasks. However, there remains a perceived absense of such cordless devices for lighter duty debris clearing functions presently performed by heavier duty powered blowers.
Various prior art blower designs have been proposed. Nevertheless, there remains a need to provide a lightweight, portable blower, preferably cordless, having a slender configuration with low noise, low vibration and energy efficient operation.